Business Standard or Business Premium?
$18 a seat against $28. One question settles it, and everything below is what the two plans share and where they part.
Does the company need to control the computers and phones themselves, or only the accounts?
Only the accounts
a seat, a month
A company whose staff work on their own machines, where losing a laptop is an inconvenience rather than a disclosure.
The computers and phones as well
a seat, a month
A company holding records that would matter if they got out, or issuing company-owned machines it expects to control.
The step up is $10 a seat, a month — $18 against $28.
Where the two plans part
Seven capabilities separate them. Each row is what one plan does and the other does not, taken from the same comparison the hub publishes.
The four add-ons priced separately are the same four products the dearer plan already includes. The figures are the posted prices from the tables on this page.
| Capability | Business Standard | Business Premium |
|---|---|---|
Archive storage Older mail moved out of the main mailbox but still searchable. | Business Standard: 50 GB | Business Premium: grows to 1.5 TB |
Windows 11 upgrade included Which edition of Windows 11 the plan entitles a company machine to. | Business Standard: —Not included | Business Premium: Windows 11 Pro |
Wiping a lost laptop, requiring a PIN, enforcing encryption. | Business Standard: —Not included | Business Premium: |
Catching something that runs on a laptop, rather than something that arrives by mail. | Business Standard: —Not included | Business Premium: |
Attachment and link scanning Checking what a message carries, on top of the standard spam and malware filtering. | Business Standard: URL time-of-click protection | Business Premium: Plan 1 |
Requiring a second factor, or blocking a sign-in from an unexpected place or an unmanaged device. | Business Standard: —Not included | Business Premium: |
Labeling the files that matter and stopping them leaving by mail. | Business Standard: —Not included | Business Premium: |
What the two plans share
The rows that read the same on both. Worth knowing before stepping up, and worth knowing before staying put.
Both plans carry
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Email at your own domain
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Mailbox size: 50 GB
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Word, Excel and Outlook in a browser
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Word, Excel and Outlook installed
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Microsoft Teams
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File storage per person: 1 TB
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Shared company files and intranet: Plan 1
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Webinars and meeting recording
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Extra apps included: Bookings, Planner, Forms, Sway, Loop, Clipchamp
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Maximum number of people: 300
Bought separately, the same parts cost more
Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, Intune Plan 1 and Entra ID P1 each sell on their own, and all four are also part of Business Premium.
Added to Business Standard at the prices this page posts, the four come to $44 a seat. Business Premium is $28.
Business Standard, plus the four
Business Standard | $18 |
Defender for Business | $4 |
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 | $3 |
Intune Plan 1 | $10 |
Entra ID P1 | $9 |
a seat, a month
Business Premium
Business Premium | $28 |
Defender for Business | included |
Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 | included |
Intune Plan 1 | included |
Entra ID P1 | included |
a seat, a month
Common questions
Yes. Licenses are assigned per person, so Business Standard for one group of people and Business Premium for another sit in the same tenant.
One person, for one month, on an annual commitment, billed monthly. The figures above are $18 a seat for Business Standard and $28 for Business Premium.
They can. Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, Intune Plan 1 and Entra ID P1 each sell on their own. Bought that way on top of Business Standard they come to $44 a seat, and Business Premium is $28.
Both plans stop at 300. Above that the enterprise range takes over, and the answer is a different conversation.
The other decisions in the range
Each of these is one question with two answers, the same shape as this page.
Business Basic or Business Standard?
Does anyone need Word, Excel and Outlook installed on the computer, rather than in a browser tab?
Exchange Online Plan 1 or Plan 2?
How much mail has to be kept, and for how long?
Microsoft 365 F1 or F3?
Does this person need a mailbox of their own?
See the whole range
Every plan side by side, with what a seat costs and which capabilities are already bundled in.